A Million Little Regrets
by Maeve H
Summary: Shane and Tess make a mistake that leads them somewhere they may or may not want to be. THREE-SHOT.
1. First Kiss

**Tess is bold, **  
Shane is not.

_Another day, another summer romance._

_Another night, another screaming breakup._

**I remember our first night together like it was yesterday.**

I could never forget the way I felt that night and the things I had done. I want more than anything to take them back. But instead I just continue to do it…

**Ever since she bumped into me on the first day of camp way back in 2008, I've been agonizingly green-eyed of Mitchie Torres. She had the amazing voice, the perfect friends, the super nice mom who gives her all the attention in the world.**

**Now she comes back this year in the arms of the one thing I thought maybe, just maybe, I had a chance with. My secret crush since I was twelve, since before he was famous, since our first year at Camp Rock. Legendary, teen pop star; Shane Gray.**

**I knew that I had to get her back and attempting to ruin her Final Jam performance wasn't going to be enough this time.**

If I know anything, I know this is wrong. But simply knowing that it's wrong isn't enough. If I were even a bit of a good person, I would get up and leave right now.

**It was only a week after the first day. Shane and Mitchie had gotten into a huge fight about some petty couple thing and gossip had spread through the whole camp within an hour. I was sitting on the dock and he walked up behind me. I wasn't even thinking about making Mitchie dejected at the time. I was focusing on the fact that Shane was finally talking to me like a normal person.**

The first time, I thought nothing of it. Mitchie and I had broken up and I was free to flirt with whoever I wanted even if it was just to take my mind off of our fight. We both walked back to my cabin and no one was there so we stayed and talked. It was Sunday which is like a long free time for everyone because there are no classes and nobody was preparing for Final Jam yet.

I don't know what was going through my head in that moment but, out of nowhere, I leaned in and-

**Kissed me. He actually kissed me.**

**It felt nothing like it does right now.**

**He made me feel twelve again. Like when Ella and Peggy would tease me and say, "He totally has a crush on you," and I would secretly love it. It was short and sweet but it felt like it could last forever. I was soaring.**

**Right now, it lasts long-but might as well be short. I feel like my rebellious, young age with my feet planted firmly on the ground.**

Spontaneous, unusual, forbidden.

After that first kiss, everything was a haze. Tess was walking through my mind all night after that but gone with the wind once I saw Mitchie approach my cabin the next morning. I didn't even think twice about getting back with Mitchie.

**The second I saw Mitchie sitting hip to hip with… Shane… It was the last straw. I rolled my eyes and walked away anytime she said something to me, anytime her name came up in conversation; I casually mentioned her little charade from last year and I was always sensually nice to Shane because I knew Mitchie was the jealous type.**

Two days later, the pattern started. The second breakup.  
I was so abandon. So lonely.

**When I saw his naïve face in front of me that night, I knew I had him right where I wanted him.**

**All I had to do was grab him by the belt loop and pull him deeper into the woods. Every night, it pleases me to know that Mitchie is probably being tortured by the instincts that tell her that Shane, her gorgeous pop star boyfriend, is sneaking around with another girl. Late at night in mess hall, deep in the forest, in someone's cabin, behind the stage curtains… doing things she **_**never**_** would.**

**This isn't about Shane anymore. It's about Mitchie.**

Every fight is about Tess and she doesn't even know it. She's theatrical and melodramatic and that's exactly what Mitchie acts like when she gets angry about another insignificant problem.

This isn't about Mitchie anymore. It's about Tess.

**A charge of lust stabs me every time he comes crawling back to me. But picturing his arm around Mitchie's shoulders-like it always is the next day-made it go missing.**

**But this time is different somehow. He runs his hands up and down my back and I clutch onto his wavy hair. I'm definitely feeling something. I sense my stomach is about to pop, but I can't identify what it is.**

She's so manipulative. I don't see what Tess is using me for but she is using me and that's for sure. There's no bother in knowing though because I don't care that she's using me. Because I'm using her too; using her for my own dependency on the things I inconsiderately take.

Tess kisses my neck soft and passionately. I get chills from her cold lips touching my skin. Mitchie can't make me feel like this. Secretly, I've started a couple fights myself because I wanted to feel this way.

I'm using her too because I know she'll come back to me the next day.

**I want everybody to know about this. I want the entire camp to be gossiping about it. I want every tabloid to know that Connect 3 member, Shane Gray, cheated on up and coming teen singer/rumored girlfriend, Mitchie Torres, with T.J. Tyler's daughter-with-the-bad-reputation, Tess Tyler.**

**Earlier today, I tricked my cabin mates into having a sleepover at Mitchie and Caitlyn's cabin so Shane and I could be in here. While they were packing I took a hairbrush out that they should be looking for any minute now.**

Pulling away from her, I look into Tess' mysterious, dark blue eyes. She breaks the gaze and lies next to me, saying nothing. I lean over her face and kiss her again. This time I focus on her gentle lips and practically move in slow motion. She puts her hand on the back of my neck and kisses me back. It's almost like our first time again.

**What's happening here? As much I try to see him with **_**her**_** in my mind, all it makes me feel is jealousy and I can't shake my emotions anymore. I'm soaring again. I'm actually feeling something more than a strangers lips pressed against mine. Why is he doing this to me?**

Little did I know that this beautiful dream was about to turn into a horrible nightmare. The door behind us swings open and I sit up by surprise and see a girl's face expressing her obvious shock. I hear nothing but the gasp of Tess' roommate then she shuts the door and runs out before anybody gets the slightest chance to say something.

**My plan. It worked.**

I glance back at Tess and see a regretful look on her face. There's no doubt that she will run and tell everybody and the entire camp will know by tomorrow. And as soon as someone gets a hold of a phone, the whole world will know.

I have nothing to say and nothing to do.

**I slide my hand closer to his and our finger tips touch which makes my heart skip a beat. I take his palm and wrap his arm around my waist as we both lie down together and snuggle closer. I close my eyes and try to take in our last night together.**

It's only been a couple weeks and word spread like wild fire. Everyone knows about the true me.

Mitchie and I broke up for good this time but I haven't talked to Tess since that night her roommate found us. The label kicked me out of the band; after all the drama last year, they said this was the last straw. Jason and Nate aren't talking to me but I think they're secretly looking for a replacement. It's what they should do, I don't want them giving up on the band because of my stupid mistakes.

**Hot Tunes TV hasn't shut up about the new Shane Gray scandal. 'Smitchie' was the big celebrity gossip before everybody found out about this. But now all I here is that brainless host saying…**

"**Shane Gray hasn't said anything on the subject but sources tell us that he and his girlfriend broke up because Shane cheated on her with someone at the camp that he and the rest of Connect 3 have been attending. Those sources tell us that 'the other girl' is pop star, T.J. Tyler's daughter. T.J. knew nothing of the rumor when asked about it in a recent interview."**

**I've ignored every call from my mom.**

**It's exactly what I wanted… Why does it feel so horrible?**

Is there any way to fix this? Can I make things right again? Time can't heal this wound I've caused upon everybody and now I have to… but I don't know how.

There's nothing I can do to take my mind off of this thing. Every second of every day I'm wondering if Mitchie's moved on yet, if Tess is embarrassed by all the bad press, if my friends will ever forgive me. I was going to leave camp early but Uncle Brown said I should stay- he's the only one who's actually been nice to me. But he's still not an idiot; "Maybe you just shouldn't be a judge this year." He said to me.

Every **night** I **dream** of **that** last **kiss** we **shared** together.

**This year, I'm singing a slower song in Final Jam; something no one has ever heard me do. But now I'm afraid because not only does everyone hate me but it's a love song. It's about no one in particular however I know that the magazines will connect it to my former relationship with Shane. The only thing I can do to prevent that is drop out.**

I can't confront anyone so I don't join the audience of Final Jam like I should. Instead I walk the empty camp grounds and make my way to the lakeside. When I arrive I see a blonde, skinny figure sitting on an upside down canoe and watching the sunset. Should I stay or should I turn and leave before she notices me?

**Leaves crunch behind me as a cold breeze soothingly hits the tears on my cheeks. I turn and see him with apologetic words in his appearance. I stand up and he walks towards me.**

She's been crying. I want to comfort her but there's nothing I can do or say.

"I'm sorry."

**His words are compassionate like his last kiss. I'm the one who should be sorry, but I don't say it back.**

"**Why did you come back for me every time she left you? Why not run to someone else?"**

Because you're the one I wanted to go to. You always made me feel like something real. I was always thinking about you, I would yearn to be around you and feel your touch. Without you, there was no hope.

"I don't know."

**I want us to be together now that Mitchie is out of the picture. Even if he is a cheater and I'm a scheming abuser, I want to be with him for real this time. But it would be wrong. So, so wrong.**

Controlled by my compulsive feelings, I pull her by the waist and bring her lips to mine. She kisses me back tenderly and nothing matters anymore. The world around us disappears and we're the only two people in the universe.

**He kisses me. Just like the first time he kissed me, just like the last time he kissed me; it's magical. It takes my breath away and feel like I'm going to collapse, but I cling onto his body to catch myself.**

I still feel her stunning lips after they draw from mine. The look on her beautiful face is like nothing I have seen before. It's indescribable. I will never forget that face and I couldn't if I wanted to.

"**Goodbye, Shane Gray."**

Her voice is soft as she lets go of me and steps away from where I'm standing.** He looks at me with his deep, radiant eyes. Before turning around to walk away, I breathe in the summery air and admire what's left to see of everything I want.**

"Goodbye, Tess Tyler."

All I hear is the quiver of the trees and the calm whistle of the wind as I watch her slowly walk away from me forever. The sun falls behind the lake and I watch her disappear into the darkness.

"I love you."


	2. No More Goodbyes

_A/N: If you liked the ending of the last chapter, don't bother reading this these next two. It's for those of you who thought the last ending was too sad. I want to dedicate this to SadSmiles because they left a really nice review but wanted a happy ending. =)_

Most everyone is running around the camp, saying goodbye to everyone and trying to get everything packed at the last minute. I'm just sitting on an old bench that looks over the glossy morning lake. The sooner I leave this camp, the sooner I have nowhere else to go. And then I'll really be alone.

Mom and dad never wanted anything to do with me after Connect 3 got signed to a record label. All of my friends disgust me for being a lying, cheating animal. I no longer have a career in the only thing I've ever known how to do.

**I yank the handle of the heavy bags out the door so I'm ready to go when my ride gets here. I've gotten used to seeing all the people out of the corner of my eye exchanging whispers and sending hateful glares my way.**

**Once every one of my things are in front of the wooden deckhouse, I sit on one of my suitcases and wait for my mom's limo to drive up.**

**Waiting and thinking, I see more gossip out of the corner of my eye. Maybe I can't actually hear what everyone is murmuring into their friends' ears but they might as well be screaming the insensitive words into the Beach Jam microphone.**

Soon there's almost nobody left. All the buses left and there are just a couple of kids waiting for their late parents to arrive. I still haven't moved from the bench.

My uncle Brown walks up behind me. "You all packed?" He asks me.

"My stuff is sitting in my cabin ready to go."

He walks around the back of the seat and sits next to me. "Are you going back home?" He says the question with sympathy because he knows that home is probably the last place I want to go, and he's right.

"I don't know if my parents will let me back in... especially not if they paid attention to all the hearsay."

"You and I both know my brother and I have our disagreements about the music industry," he says in his recognizable English accent. "But your parents love you, you know that."

I am lucky to have such loving parents. It's just so hard to tell when all you hear from them is that I'm too young to be working like this and how I'm just contributing to the flaws of pop culture by being a part of Hollywood land.

**The ride home was very long and silent. The entire time, Shane was running through my mind the way a movie does that focuses on the same situation as the viewer. I pictured his smile. I thought about his kiss. I replayed every word he's said to me over and over again in my head. Most of all, I wondered if we would be together if it weren't for Mitchie.**

**I imagined him coming back to Camp Rock at the beginning of the summer and seeing only my face in the sea of people. He would grab me by the arm as I walk by and pull over to a private corner just so he could say hello. We would talk and laugh with each other and eventually he would shyly admit to having a small crush on me before he left for LA. Then I'd tell him I felt the same way and slowly but surely, throughout the summer, we'd form a romantic relationship.**

**But that would never happen, Mitchie or no Mitchie.**

**Mom's driver helps me carry my bags as I get out of the gaudy stretch limo and start walking towards the front door of the big cream colored house. I come in and mom's on the phone with her manager sorting through papers and planning some sort of huge event.**

**I just go straight to my room.**

Once I finally leave camp by myself, I drive home by myself, check into a hotel by myself, eat dinner by myself and go sleep and 6:30 by myself.

When I arrived at this hotel, the girl at the front desk was very nice and told me she was a big fan. But when I glimpsed over at her talking to the other check in person, I saw them snickering about something and glancing over at my presence a couple of times.

As I lay in bed with my blinds closed because the sun is still up, I play that moment over in my mind a few times and listen to the sound of a mysterious pecking sound outside the window. The only things I can think of are negative. I see that girl standing by the cabin door and catching my unfaithfulness, I see Mitchie hurriedly walking away from me after I told her that all the camp rumors were true. And most of all, I see Tess' sunny blond hair swaying back and forth as she ambled into the darkness that last night I saw her at Camp Rock.

**My mom walked passed my open door and stopped when she saw me sitting in my bedroom. "You're home!" She said, surprised by my presence-even if I have been home for almost three hours already.**

"**Yeah, you were busy when I got here so I just came in and started unpacking."**

**She walks in my room and sits next to me on my bed. "So, how was camp?" She asks. "You didn't return any of my phone calls."**

**I shrugged off her question and gave her a measly, 'it was fine' and told her I was really busy. Part of me secretly wanted her to ask about the rumors she heard, but she didn't. She's ignored every rumor about me, even though most of them are true.**

Walking down the open streets is like trying to make my way through a free museum on a day in California record heat, but with cameras. The forty-some year out adults in their ketchup stained shirts and baseball caps tumble over each other and trying to take pictures of me as they shout out stupid questions that any person with any common since could assume I'm not going to answer. Two days ago, this would have been flattering. Annoying, but flattering.

But all these paparazzi and magazine editors don't care about Shane Gray. They don't care about my music, my former band mates or myself. They only care about the long line-up of selfish mistakes I've made.

Same with all the talk shows, I've been getting more offers then ever just because they want to ask me about what a terrible person I am. I've turned down every one of them.

**I'm going to a talk show with mom this weekend.**

There was one show I've decided to go on. I just had a strange feeling about it.


	3. Right Now

I could easily just leave. Before I even talk to the host, I could just leave and no one would have any idea where I had gone. It's what I'm tempted to do. I feel so stupid for even coming here in the first place… what was I thinking?

**I've tried everything! There's nothing I can do to make myself feel better. Sometimes I get scared thinking that I might feel this way forever. But there's nothing I can do; I don't know any way to prevent this feeling and mom says counseling is only for crazy people.**

Shock runs through my weak veins when I see something I thought I'd never see again. Maybe it's only her back but I would recognize that silky, blond hair any place. Because it's the hair I watched walk away from me and break my heart one painful piece at a time.

In that moment, I completely disregard anything about everything. I ignore that I'm on in fifteen minutes. I forget about the dishonesty. I discount my former girlfriend.

**There something behind me, I know it. Of course there's **_**something**_** behind me but a burning sensation in the pit of my stomach tells me it's something important. I turn slowly; somewhat scared to see what it is and see the eyes that I haven't stopped thinking about since the moment I stepped off the grounds of Camp Rock.**

**I check to see if my mother has noticed any of this. She's far too busy. I walk towards his presence, unsure of what I'm supposed to say. I can see in his eyes that he's just as confused as I am.**

"**Shane?"**

I can't believe what I'm seeing. My mind has convinced me that I'm seeing things but my spirit is telling me that the girl of my dreams is standing four inches away from me. I feel like an idiot, not saying anything-just staring into her striking dark blue eyes.

"Can I talk to you for a second?"

I lightly grip her hand and guide her somewhere private. She has a guilty look on her face.

"**I'm sorry I broke you and Mitchie up."**

"Don't be. That was my entire fault. I knew better."

**His words are charming. I forget about the people we both are and think about what's happening right now.**

"Tess, I have something to tell you."

I prepare myself for the words I've wanted to say to this girl for as long as I remember. My body freezes for moment just before I utter the troubling words.

"You're all I think about. Everything about you amazes me and I just want to be around you all the time. Maybe I lost my job, and I completely screwed everything up but whenever I think about you, all is well again. My eyes never left you whenever we were in the same room back at camp, even if I was sitting next to Mitchie. Being with you is the only thing I really wanted, and that's why I went to you every night."

**I can't bear to believe his declaration. My face tenses up and tears pour from my eyes like a rain storm. Never shall I know what I'm supposed to feel like towards him, yet I can't help but wonder if the feelings I have are wrong.**

"I love you, Tess Tyler."

**A smile cracks from my quivering lips.**

"**I love you, too."**

I do exactly what I wanted to do from the moment I arrived at this studio and leave. But with Tess' warm hand in mine. It doesn't matter that no one will know where Tess or myself are, what matter is that finally, for the first time in such a long time; I know where I am. I'm with Tess.

**Before we leave, he pulls me over to a hidden corner. Then he kisses me, just like I wanted him too. It's nothing like the first time he kissed me; it's nothing like the last time he kissed me. It's like right now, and it's still perfect.**

_A/N: Sorry about that… I know the sequel and threequel were a little sloppy and rushed but I tried my best. Please tell me in a review if you prefer the happy ending (reading all the way through) or the tragic ending (stopping at the first chapter). Personally, I prefer the tragic one, but that's just me._

* * *

If you did like this story... VOTE FOR IT!  
Please?: The link is on my profile.


End file.
